


Finding the Spark

by RainbowMech (charlion_em)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, AtLA AU, Avatar the Last Airbender AU, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, post atla before korra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-21 13:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7389694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlion_em/pseuds/RainbowMech
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kayla-ships-klaine-and-destiel asked: voltron avatar the last airbender au! *___*</p><p>This is set ~5-10 years after then end of the war. Republic City has been formed, and with it, the Police force. Toph has her top level metal benders, but the city still needs everyday cops to protect and serve. But first, they need to get through Toph and Allura’s academy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding the Spark

“This is your fault, by the way.” Lance’s face was contorted as he concentrated on holding his wall of water. His knees began to shake from the exertion, and the volley of arrows were barely being stopped by his efforts.

Next to him, Keith ground his teeth as he locked swords with the armor clad attacker. “Not the time.” He held his ground, but didn’t have the strength to push the beast backwards. After a few seconds, his footing gave on the mud, and he had to roll away from the slice of the blade.

“Watch out-” Lance lost his control of his water wall, sending it crashing down around them. He washed over to where Keith was kneeling in the mud.

“Lance-”

The attacker’s shadow fell over them. Keith sucked in a breath as the giant sword pressed against Lance’s throat. The metal was cold against his skin, and he shot Keith a panicked look. “Sorry,” he said.

“Enough.” The commanding voice echoed from the other side of the practice field. The metal construct pulled away, folding up until it was needed again.

Lance swallowed, rubbing his neck where the blade had been pressed. “That was close.”

“Yea.” Keith held out his hand, only to have it swatted away. Lance pulled himself from the mud, glaring at Keith. He didn’t say another word as they made their way back to Commander Allura.

“You two need to pull together, work as a team. Until you can prove to me you can do that, you’re both benched.”

Lance blinked, “But-”

“Enough. Republic City needs the best of the best. Chief Toph demands the best, and so do I. The best means being able to put aside your differences at work together.” She pointed towards the barracks. “Go clean up. I want you two back out here at 0500 tomorrow.”

Lance glared over at Keith. He wiped some of the globs of mud from his clothes and made his way towards the barracks. Under his breath he muttered, “Maybe if I wasn’t with a broken fire bender.”

“I heard that.” Keith pushed passed him, jogging ahead.

Behind him he hear Allura call, “NEXT. HUNK. PIDGE. TO THE STAGING AREA FOR ASSESSMENT.”

Back at the barracks, Lance quickly showered and changed. He saw no sign of Keith except his muddy clothes. With a sigh, he tossed himself onto his cot. What a failure that had been. Keith had skill, but not the kind they needed. His partner was supposed to be a firebender, not some guy with a sword. Lance could count on one hand the amount of firebending he’d seen Keith do.

A few minutes later, Hunk entered the room. “Well, _we_ passed.”

Lance groaned theatrically. “How sad is this? I’m going to flunk out because they partnered me with _him_.”

“Maybe if you two, oh, I don’t know… trained together? Dude. Bro. I don’t know why you hate him so much. But I can guarantee you that’s why Allura put you two together.”

Lance rolled over on his stomach, “He’s annoying. Barely talks. And where is he now? Huh? As soon as something doesn’t go right he disappears.” He sat up. “Probably off pouting somewhere.”

“Pouting like you are right now?”

“I am not pouting.” He crossed his arms, “I’m wallowing. There’s a difference.”

Hunk grabbed clean clothes and wandered off, shaking his head.

“There’s a difference.” Lance sighed at the empty room. Hunk was right about one thing- they needed to train. Together.

* * *

 

 

It took him an hour, but he eventually found Keith at the edge of the river. Lance stood back, just watching for a moment. He stood at the edge of the water, slowly bending wisps of fire around him in delicate patterns. From a distance, he could forget it was Keith. The amount of skill required to control fire in such a way was incredible. Was this really the same guy who could barely get a spark going during their testing?

Lance took a deep breath and crossed over the grass, stopping a mere few feet from Keith. His eyes were closed, and if he heard Lance approach he didn’t show it. Lance could watch Keith bend for hours. But, as pretty as the show was, they had work to do.

“Hey.”

The fire dissipated instantly, Keith’s arms dropped to his sides as he turned to face Lance. “I--” He stepped back.

“Okay.” Lance waved and arm at him, “What was that?”

Keith looked away.

“Because that looked a lot like fire bending. Really _good_ firebending. Where the heck was that earlier?”

Keith turned back towards the water. “You’re right. I’m holding you back.” He sighed. “If I drop out, you’ll actually have a chance.”

He should be happy about that. Why wasn’t he happy about that? Lance stepped next to Keith, “Don’t drop out.”

They’d all worked so hard to get this far. To be members of the Republic City Police. They would never be on the same level as the metal benders- but protecting the city was the reason they signed up. To protect everyone, regardless of element, class, or creed.

“I can’t do it. I keep choking. This meditation helps, but…” He shook his head. “That wall you made today? That was epic.” He kicked a rock into the water.

“Thanks, I am pretty cool.” He grinned over at Keith, then sighed when he saw his forlorn face. “After that show I just saw, I’d say you’re pretty cool too.”

“Not going to tear me down?” Keith kicked another rock.

“Whoa. Dude. No.” He pulled up a wisp of water with his bending, and twirled around. “Water is eloquent. Every waterbender I know can do this. But doing it with fire? Dude. That is major skill. Where did you learn to do it?”

A slight blush dusted Keith’s cheeks, and for a moment Lance didn’t think he was going to answer. Then, Keith looked away and muttered, “From watching you waterbend.”

Lance wasn’t sure how he felt about Keith watching him. It was unnerving, but also endearing. All this time he thought Keith hated him. Wait-- was he just shy. He leered over at Keith, but quickly schooled his features. Whatever reason Keith had for watching him could wait. He was clearly distressed if he was thinking about dropping out.

Keith sat down on the edge of the water. “Fire is wild. Hard to control and predict.”

“Like me.” Lance chucked at his own joke as he joined Keith on the grass. “Soooo, why didn’t you bend earlier? If you had taken out the arrow turrets, we could have dealt with the sword thing. together.”

Keith rested his head on a knee, looking over at Lance. “It’s hard for me to bend when someone is that close.”

Lance blinked at him as he put the pieces together. “You’re afraid you’ll hurt someone?”

Keith picked up a rock and chucked it into the water. “I hurt someone before… it’s so easy to lose focus and make a mistake. When I signed up, I thought I could get through without bending.”

“Maybe you can.” He pulled Keith by his arm, “Let's go practice.”

Keith pulled his arm away. “Lance, please.”

Lance sat back down with a sigh. “Then bend.”

“What if I-”

“Stoooop. Sprits! You whine more than my little sister.”

“You have a sister?” Keith frowned, “We’ve been partnered for two months and I don’t know anything about you.”

“Like anyone knows about you, Mr. mysterious. Yes, I have a little sister, a little brother, and a big sister. And you know what? They all live in this city. Will you help me protect them?”

“I…”

Lance bumped their shoulders together. “Come on.”

“I’ll… try.”

Lance grinned. “Okay, so our first training exercise using our bending going to be sneaking into the kitchens.”

“What?”

Lance bounced up, excited to put a plan into motion. “All of your mopping made us miss dinner. If we make a steam or smoke distraction, one of us can sneak around while Corran tries to find a non existent fire.” He held out his hand, “What do you say, partner?”

Keith shrugged, “What they heck. I was going to drop out anyway. Getting caught won’t be too bad.” He took Lance’s offered hand up.

“That’s the spirit!” Lance wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder. “Ya, know, this might be the beginning of a beautiful partnership.”

“I quit.” But he laughed, letting Lance hold him against his side as they made their way towards the kitchens.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> TBC?
> 
> As always, please msg me if you see any mistakes :)
> 
>  
> 
> I had a whole long outline, but it was getting pretty complicated and I don’t want to start another huge serious project. So, i wrote this fluff instead. I may revisit the other outline when I have time/feel I'll be able to finish it.


End file.
